NBA Ikeja Branch Election Must Be Conducted With Guidelines Of National Election Monitoring Committee—-Fin Sec, Uju Okeke

…..NBA The General Secretary Urges The Branch Chair And Financial Secretary To Resolve Their Differences NBA Ikeja branch outgoing Financial Secretary, Uju Peace Okeke has said that the branch election will not hold on Tuesday as directed by the General Secretary of the NBA, Aare Isiaka Abiola Olagunju without following the laid down guidelines provided by the National Election Monitoring Committee. According to the information from the outgoing Financial Secretary, Uju Peace Okeke, made available to The Nigerian Lawyer (TNL) the General Secretary of NBA, Secretary, Aare Isiaka Abiola Olagunju has directed that election be conducted into the offices of NBA Ikeja next Tuesday with names of voters whose financial status has not been determined at the instance of his petition as the Financial Secretary of the Branch. “I was reliably informed that the Election Monitoring Committee of the National had recommended that these names must be cleared by the Secretary and the Financial Secretary before the election will take place in the branch but this recommendation was carefully omitted by the General Secretary who now acts as the President and Exco of the whole Bar,” she stated. She is, therefore, urging the branch members to take the fierce stand against conducting the election on Tuesday without doing the needful. “I hereby request that the members of the tiger branch must arise and demand that this abnormality is corrected fast as we cannot conduct election into the offices of the Branch with persons whose financial status are doubtful or not clear. There are seventy-six (76) names involved. 76 out of the 211 names in the voters list is enough to affect the credibility of the election. These names must come clean with proofs of payment as at when due,” she added. When The Nigerian Lawyer (TNL) contacted the General Secretary on this, he said that going by the petition received by the electoral committee the allegations were not provable. “The allegations therein are such that cannot be proved documentarily and can hardly be proved in oral evidence. Notwithstanding the petitioner, neither submitted any such document nor given any particulars to prove her allegation. The committee, therefore, finds no merit in the petition” The General Secretary further said that he informed the Ikeja branch chair, Adeshina Ogunlana when he received a petition against him by Peace Okeke. He told the chairman that they should check and resolve the list harmoniously instead of causing unnecessary chaos in the branch. The Nigeria Lawyer (TNL) also contacted the Ikeja branch chair on the allegations against him, but he described it as malicious. In his words: “It is not true that the general secretary Aare Isiaka Abiola Olagunju said the election should be conducted without having regards to the financial records of the members. I only received a letter from the General Secretary, Aare Isiaka Abiola Olagunju on Thursday, that we should proceed with the elections, that the electoral committee has considered the petitions and has directed as well as approved our elections. And the election must go on.” He further said that the Financial Secretary never submitted any petition to the branch electoral committee and that he inquired from the committee if Peace submitted any petition and they said no.aR]]>